Take Care, Sara

waited and they’d never opened. Months, a year, over a year she’d waited for him to open his eyes and come back to her. He’d given himself that time limit to come back to her as well and he hadn’t done it. He isn’t coming back.
    Tears formed, slowly sliding down her cheeks. She became aware of another presence beneath her, around her, cocooning her as though to protect her from the world, maybe from herself even. For one bittersweet instant Sara thought it was him and that the past year had all been a horrible, unimaginable dream, but then the piercing pain came back and she couldn’t pretend. A heartbeat steadily pounded by her ear, an arm locked her against a warm, hard chest.
    She stiffened, but didn’t immediately pull away. “What happened?”
    “You passed out.”
    “Where are your parents?”
    “They left. They’re going to say goodbye to him now and go back to Florida. I don’t know if they’ll be back. They can’t…they can’t accept it, Sara. It’s not your fault and it has nothing to do with you. I hope you realize that. I’m sorry my dad was being such a dick. It’s just…it’s really hard for them. But that’s not an excuse for his behavior. There is none.”
    Sara pulled away, sitting up on the couch. Her head was pounding and she went still until the dizziness faded. She angled her body away from him and Lincoln’s hand dropped away as he straightened. “Why were you holding me?”
    He sighed and when Sara glanced at him, it was to see his elbows on his knees and his hands holding his head. Lincoln rubbed his hair and dropped his hands, looking at her. He looked beaten, ravaged. “I don’t know. Because you just…you looked like you needed to be held, Sara. That’s all.”
    She jumped to her feet, angry and confused and so disgustingly sad. Sara was sick of feeling the way she did. She was sick of having no control over her life, her emotions, anything . Sara was sick of being weak. She was sick of the lies. Her body shook with the need to release all she kept hidden, locked away in a dark place.
    Lincoln’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. “What is it, Sara?”
    She looked at him, sitting on the couch, the one person who was always there for her, whether she wanted him to be or not. Sara didn’t deserve his unflinching support. She didn’t want it. Her lips pressed together, the words forcing their way out. If she said them, it would be over. Sara would be lost. Lincoln would be done. But the relief…it would set her free.
    “I closed my eyes.”
    He blinked. “What?”
    Sara’s body was trembling and her stomach kept swooping, over and over, until she felt sick. She walked to his recliner, staring down at it, wishing he was sitting in it. “That night, the night of the wreck, I closed my eyes while I was driving, just for a second, but it was enough.”
    Lincoln didn’t speak. Everything went still as she waited, dreading his reaction. Sara didn’t want to see the expression on his face, but her eyes drifted to it anyway. It was blank. Perfectly, carefully blank. She swallowed, pressing an arm across her midsection.
    When he slowly stood and walked the few steps it took to reach her, his body heat and lemony scent gently waving over her like a caress, Sara averted her face. If she saw in Lincoln’s eyes what she’d seen in his father’s and what she imagined she’d see in her husband’s if he was ever to open them again, she’d shatter. It would be the end of her. Isn’t that what you want? a voice mocked.
    But then he raised his hand and touched her cheek, his rough fingers gently pushing her face in his direction so Sara couldn’t avoid his eyes. What would she see in them? What did she see in them? Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to define it. Lincoln’s eyes were stark, full, immersed in a strong emotion; one Sara couldn’t describe. He studied her, seeing her, looking past her barriers and into her pain-filled world. Lincoln saw her.
    One word. One softly whispered word left his lips. “ Don’t. ”
    Sara should have been immune to them by now, but watery drops of sorrow fell from her eyes anyway. She moved away from Lincoln, turning to stare out the living room window at the snow-filled scene. The snowflakes fell in wispy feathers of winter, trickling from the sky in slow motion. She clenched her jaw and blinked her eyes to keep a sob within, but it made its way from her in spite of her efforts to keep it in. She wrapped her arms